What is your take on this comment regarding the Republican primary in 2008?

[Erc]

2004 Dem:

1:  John Kerry (38%)
2:  Howard Dean  (26%)
3:  Wesley Clark  (12%)
4:  John Edwards  (12%)

2000 Dem:

1:  Al Gore (50%)
2:  Bill Bradley (46%)

2000 Rep:

1:  John McCain (48%)
2:  George Bush (30%)
3:  Steve Forbes (13%)

1996 Rep:

1:  Pat Buchanan (27%)
2:  Bob Dole  (26%)
3:  Lamar Alexander (23%)
4:  Steve Forbes  (12%)

1992 Dem:

1:  Paul Tsongas (33%)
2:  Bill Clinton (25%)
3:  Bob Kerry (11%)
4:  Tom Harkin (10%)
5:  Jerry Brown (8%)

1992 Rep:

1:  George Bush (53%)
2:  Pat Buchanan (37%)

1988 Rep:

1:  George Bush (38%)
2:  Bob Dole (29%)
3:  Jack Kemp (13%)
4:  Pierre S. DuPont (11%)
5:  Pat Robertson (9%)

1988 Dem:

1:  Michael Dukakis (36%)
2:  Dick Gephardt (20%)
3:  Paul Simon (17%)
4:  Jesse Jackson (8%)
5:  Al Gore (7%)
6:  Bruce Babbit (5%)
7:  Gary Hart (4%)

1984 Dem:
1: Gary Hart (37%)
2: Walter Mondale (28%)
3: John Glenn (12%)
4: Jesse Jackson (5%)

1980 Rep:
1: Ronald Reagan (50%)
2: George Bush[/B] (23%)
3: Howard Baker (12%)
4: John Anderson (10%)

1980 Dem:
1: Jimmy Carter (47%)
2: Ted Kennedy (37%)
3: Jerry Brown (10%)

1976 Dem:
1:  Jimmy Carter (28%)
2:  Mo Udall (23%)
3:  Birch Bayh (15%)
4:  Fred Harris (11%)
5:  R. Sargent Shriver (8%)
6:  Hubert Humphrey (6%)
7:  Henry Jackson (2%)
8:  George Wallace (1%)

1976 Rep:
1:  Gerald Ford (49%)
2:  Ronald Reagan (48%)

1972 Rep:
1:  Richard Nixon (68%)
2:  Paul McCloskey (20%)
3:  John Ashbrook (10%)

1972 Dem:
1:  Ed Muskie (46%)
2:  George McGovern (37%)

(The lack of other major candidates [Humphrey, Jackson, Wallace, Chisolm] is striking)

1968 Dem:
1:  LBJ (49.6%)
2:  Eugene McCarthy (41.4%)

(As LBJ had not yet pulled out, Humphrey hadn't yet entered the race)

1968 Rep:
1:  Richard Nixon (77%)
2:  Nelson Rockefeller (11%)

1964 Rep:
1:  Henry Cabot Lodge (36%)
2:  Barry Goldwater (22%)
3:  Nelson Rockefeller (21%)
4:  Richard Nixon (17%)

1960 Dem:
1:  JFK (85%)
2:  Paul Fisher (13%)

1956 Dem:
1:  Estes Kefauver (86%)
2:  Adlai Stevenson (15%)

1952 Dem:
1:  Estes Kefauver (55%)
2:  Harry Truman (44%)

1948 Rep:

1:  Dwight D. Eisenhower (50%)
2:  Bob Taft (39%)


So, yeah, every winner has been in the top two (or not in the race at all).  Although some late surgers (Edwards, Jesse Jackson, etc.) haven't performed well in New Hampshire...although they've never been able to come very close to taking the nomination.

But if Rudy and McCain do both run (very unlikely), and they place 1 and 2 in New Hampshire (more likely they'd split that segment of the vote enough so that one of the others takes 2nd place)...well, we'll likely see the rule broken in 2008.